Until My Last Breath
by FalseFacts
Summary: Maes Hughes had survived being attacked inside the phone booth and for a time he believed he was safe...until he came home to a gruesome sight.


**AN: ****I only own Brigadier General Richter everything else belongs to that gorgeous cow**

**Please review and tell me what you think ^_^**

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><p>Maes Hughes swallowed down hard on the lump that was beginning to form in his throat. He began working slowly and diligently on his breathing, trying to ignore what was standing directly behind him. In his youth his father had told him that there were no such things as monsters; not the creepy beasts in stories, the only things in this world that came close to that where the monsters out on the battlefield.<p>

He wasn't on the battlefield; he was in a phone booth just outside of Central Headquarters.

This thing behind him was not 2nd Lieutenant Maria Ross; it wasn't even human.

He had to assume then that his father hadn't known any better; there were monsters in this world, real scary ones with guns ready to fire at your back.

Despite the injury to his right shoulder that he had received from the woman with the Ouroboros tattoo, he could not allow himself to go down without a fight. He would not be shot down like some trapped mutt. Elicia was waiting for him…

Envy had him pinned just the way he wanted him. "You really are a smart man Lieutenant Colonel; did you ever think that it would be the cause of your own death?"

Envy gazed down at the family photo that Hughes had unknowingly let fall out of his code book. He thought devilishly for a moment. He could become his darling daughter but Envy wasn't a fan of the pigtails and a three year old with a gun was far too laughable for even him to handle. Then he thought "the Wife" and he could hardly stifle his own joy as it grew inside of him, yes the wife would be the perfect way to end things.

Hughes braced himself, took another measured breath, and let his knife slide down the sleeve of his jacket.

"Have a heart, will ya? I have a wife and daughter waiting for me at home, so the last thing I'm going to do is die on them!" with that he held onto the knife tightly and turned around to face the beast.

Instead of attacking he found himself being greeted by the sudden appearance of his wife, gun in hand and an uncharacteristically manic smile planted on her face.

"You look surprised!" it was Envy's voice deep and raspy.

Surprise soon gave way to sheer anger; this damn creature was now degrading the image of his beautiful Gracia and it sickened him. He flung his knife down upon this shape shifter, and although he missed any vital organs he was able to hit clear through the center of his left iris.

As soon as the opportunity presented itself Hughes made a run for it, although he wasn't sure where exactly where he was headed to. Central at this point could provide no security for him as there were sure to be more of these things with Ouroboros tattoos and freaky powers. Envy cursed violently under his breath and he began to fire away at Maes, missing each time. He pulled the Lt. Colonel's knife out of his eye, astonished at how deep he had been cut and how logically Hughes had reacted. Red sparks began to crackle around the spot where he had been hit and his wound healed. He transformed back into his usual look, still firing away at the Lt. Colonel.

That's when he heard a thunderous roar emerge from the doors of Central Headquarters. Hughes stopped running and Envy looked horrified as he turned around.

"I heard a commotion outside so I thought I'd check it out." It was Major Armstrong. He looked down at Envy as he surveyed the scene in front of him. He recognized Envy's palm tree like hair from the crude drawings that Edward had sketched out. "You're one of the people from the 5th laboratory…"

As he moved closer to Envy, he heard him whisper "Damn it!"

He wasn't supposed to have been seen by anyone other then Hughes and the Major's presence had just ruined everything. He was more then confident that he could easily kill both of them but he had been given strict orders to only silence Hughes. Before Armstrong could even strip off his jacket Envy had transformed into a mouse and darted off in the opposite direction.

Armstrong ran over to assist Hughes "Are you alright, sir?"

Maes started to laugh out loud "I'm fine Major. Thanks for the help." He stumbled back towards the phone booth; Armstrong finally caught a glimpse at his injury "Lt. Colonel! You're bleeding!"

Maes nodded slightly "Yeah I know."

He picked up the phone, curious as to whether or not that damn operator had ever gotten him connected to Roy's office. He picked up the receiver, it was buzzing away. Roy had hung up on him.

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><p>Within an hour or two Roy Mustang and his Lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye, had arrived in Central. From the moment that Roy had received that mysterious phone call in which Hughes did not pick up he had been convinced that something terrible had happened. Riza had tried to persuade him into staying at Eastern Command for at least the night but even she found it distressing to think that man who spent the greater part of his life ranting about his family was somehow drawn into silence.<p>

When they arrived in Central they were greeted by Armstrong, who told them that Hughes was in the hospital but not the military one. Roy knew then that something dark was in the works.

When Roy found Hughes in the hospital he was dressed in his uniform, the whole in his jacket shoulder reveled to Roy that his injury had not been as grave as he first thought. In fact all he had been in need of was a few stitches.

"Maes, what happened?"

Hughes began his explanation for why he had called Roy in the first place. He told him about the people with the Ouroboros tattoo, How the Elric brothers had run into them while inside Lab 5, had how he believed that the riots in Liore were connected to a much grander conspiracy.

Roy could not believe what his friend was saying and yet it all added together, somehow. "Someone should tell the Führer."

Hughes grabbed Roy by the collar of his jacket as he spoke intensely and in a low almost mute voice "No. Listen to me Roy, I don't know how high up this thing goes but that creature that nearly blew my head off knew about 2nd Lieutenant Maria Ross and they had been there when Lab 5 was blown up." He released his hold on Roy and added "Believe me when I say that the events to follow will show just who is really on our side."

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><p>A short while latter Roy, Riza, and Maes all walked outside the front doors of the hospital, entering into the darkness of a starless night. As they walked down the steps Roy asked Maes "Are you sure your going to be alright going home by yourself?"<p>

"Yeah don't worry about me."

"How can I not? You were just attacked not even three hours ago, you've gotten me to suspect the military high command and now you're just going to go home?"

Hughes smiled, touched by his friend's concern but his mind was still elsewhere "You should go get some sleep, you look like you could use it." He had noticed the darkened circles forming around Roy's eyes. "It's bad enough that I got you all the way from Eastern Command, you've got a busy day tomorrow so you should go to bed."

Hughes walked down a few more steps before stopping and turning back to face Roy and Riza. A perplexed look came over him as he spoke "Roy, did you walk passed the phone booth out side of Headquarters?"

"Yeah, but I didn't see that shape shifter you were talking about."

Hughes shook his head lightly "That's not what I was going to ask. I'm missing one of my photos and I'm pretty sure I dropped it by the phone booth."

"I didn't see anything, besides Hughes what does one photo matter? Don't you have hundreds of others?"

Hughes pouted dramatically "Every man is entitled to have an obsession. Mine is with my family, yours is with climbing the ladder and becoming Führer. At least I'm obsessed with something I already have."

The two friends parted ways and said goodnight to one another, thinking that they would speak to each other again.

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><p>When Hughes entered his apartment building he walked as quietly up the stairs as he could possibly managed it was passed midnight now and so he knew that both Gracia and Elicia would already be a sleep. In the morning Elicia would make him swear to come home earlier next time and Gracia would fret over his minor injury. The hallway was dark, the only light shining through now was coming from the window, where the glow from the moon shown through. As Hughes was about to remove the key from his pocket, he noticed something odd. The door was already unlocked and cracked open by just an inch. He pushed it open, not knowing that what he was about to walk in on would be the last thing he would ever see.<p>

He entered the apartment, leaving the door open behind him. It was pitch black. He felt over the light switch and flicked it up and down, nothing. Someone had cut the power. "Gracia? Elicia? Where are you?" He called out in vain, nothing happened, and no one came.

He felt his way passed the couch and other pieces of furniture as he headed towards a light looming in the distance. It was coming from Elicia's bedroom.

"Elicia? Sweetie?" Hughes still tried to act calm though he was far from it. He entered his daughter's room and almost fell back from the shocking image before him. It was Envy sitting in a rocking chair, holding the sleeping Elicia in his arms. He had always wondered where it was that Elicia got her ability to sleep through anything from. For once, though, it might actually be a good thing for her to keep her eyes closed.

Envy looked up at Hughes; a taunting smirk on his face "Oh Lieutenant Colonel, how good of you to accept our invitation."

"Let go of her, you bastard!"

Envy hushed him "You don't want to wake her now, do you?" Envy began to fiddle with a lock of Elicia's hair "She really is adorable. In fact she looks just like her mommy."

Hughes' back stiffened as he reached for another one of his knifes only to be stopped by a sword now dangling right at his neckline. He heard a voice and recognized it instantaneously.

"I've had quiet enough of you Lt. Colonel and your cheap knife tricks." The voice belonged to Führer King Bradley, as did the sword that was now aimed at Hughes' throat. "So you two are working together?" He was trying process what was happening but it was becoming all too much and all too clear as to what they wanted to do to him.

Envy was pissed "It's about time you showed up Wrath. Because you weren't here I had to deal with the woman myself."

Maes' eyes winded as Envy spoke with pure malice "Where is my wife? Where is Gracia?"

Bradley sounded just as calm as ever "I would hope that she didn't give you too much of a struggle. Why did you cut the power in the living room? I nearly tripped over her."

"For dramatic effect of course! You can't put on a play as beautiful as this and not have appropriate lighting. With no lights on and the moon as full as it is we have the perfect setting for an absolute massacre."

Maes' fists tightened up and he was damn near to screaming, his voice shaking with every syllable uttered "I said 'Where is Gracia?' What the hell have you done with her?"

Envy rolled his eyes coldly at Hughes, amused with the man's ever growing rage "Haven't you been listening? That precious wifey of yours is dead."

Hughes was about to lunge at him again but Envy began to transform again, this time taking on the appearance of Hughes himself. "That damn bitch knew I wasn't you, even with this flawless disuse."

Hughes bit down on the inside of his mouth trying to remain rational. He could not move to fight the Fuhrer of Amestris, whose sword was still placed by his jugular, nor could he attempt to bash that monsters face in without risking Elicia's safety. "Look, I don't know what your end game is in all of this but it's obvious that you want me dead. Fine, kill me then. All I ask is that you let Elicia go."

The Fuhrer smirked slightly while Envy began to ball out in full blown hysterics.

"Such a typical thing for you humans to say." Said Bradley "We are sadly beyond that point."

It was then that his daring daughter's eyes fluttered open and what she awakened to was nothing short of a nightmare. She looked up at the imposter and smiled warmly, falling for the trap. Hughes could do nothing but watch idly by as his daughter greeted this phony and called him "Daddy". Then Envy, still in his Hughes disuse, took out a knife that looked exactly like the ones that Hughes was known to carry around with him. Before he could even cry out to his little girl Envy's knife had already sliced clear across her slender neck. Her eyes were wide and full of fright as shock waves surged through out her body, had she truly just been stabbed by her father?

Envy picked the little girl up and carried her over to her father. Fuhrer Bradley lowered his sword, allowing Hughes a final moment with his daughter.

"Here, I think she's trying to say something."

Hughes fell to his knees as he scooped up his daughter and cradled her lovingly in his arms. He could not bring himself to gaze down at her neck; the flesh now broken and oozing out crimson liquid. It fell mercilessly onto his uniform; forever staining it red. Hughes kissed her forehead lightly. He could hear her burbling, choking on her own blood. His hold on her tightened as pools of liquid formed in his eyes and fell violently down onto his daughter's cheeks.

Elicia could not speak so instead she reached upwards and stroked her father's pencil thin beard. She did not want him to cry. She let her arm fall back peacefully to her side as her eyelids began their descent.

"Elicia…"

Her heart had stopped beating.

Envy reached down and tore the child's corpse away from her mourning father. "Alright, alright that's enough of that. You got to say your farewells and now we have the rest of the play to finish."

He placed Elicia's body comfortably into her bed and placed a kiss on her cheek, enraging Hughes all the more. He turned around to face Maes "Now on with the show…"

Hughes took the opportunity and he pounced on Envy, landing a powerful punch right in his face. Envy cupped his hand over his nose "DAMN IT! First you stab me in the eye and then you punch me in the face! I can't believe I allowed you to say goodbye to that miserable brat, I should have just slit both of your throats at once!"

Fuhrer Bradley held Hughes back from taking another swing at Envy "I've had just about enough of this. Envy we came here with a job to do and that's it. So stop playing around and let's finish it."

Envy stuck his tongue out at his baby brother "Try to remember that just because I'm not some decrepit old man, I'm still older then you."

"I don't care which one of us was made first. I simply refuse to take the blame for your mistakes should something go awry. If you had been able to shoot him without being seen we wouldn't even have to be doing this right now."

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><p>Hughes was paying little to no attention to the two brothers bickering, all he could see were the sheets of his daughter's bed soaked in blood and the frail form of his daughter lying there, so still and so quiet. He then realized that he was no longer in his daughter's room but now being pushed down the hall of the apartment and into his bedroom.<p>

"Awe! Don't look so glum Lt. Colonel. It's obvious that you wanted this to happen. After all if you really wanted things to go nice and smooth you would have let me shoot you but no, you had to run. I thought you had more care for your family then that." Envy then pulled out the family photo that had gone missing from Maes' code book. "You were in such a rush to get the news out about what you had found that you even let this sweet family photo of yours fall to the ground." He flapped it about in his face, a wide grin mocking him.

Hughes turned away in shame and disgust.

When they made it to the bedroom Envy's smile began to grow even bigger. "And here we are; the very place where our little tragedy comes to a solemn end." Envy takes the same knife that he had used on both Elicia and Gracia and he walks over to Hughes. Hughes was still being held back by Bradley, though at this point it was easy to see that even if he wasn't held back he had lost his fighting spirit. "After murdering his wife and daughter, Lt. Colonel Hughes is so wrought with emotion and he just can't handle it. He goes into the bedroom, knife still in hand and he slits his own throat in the hopes of escaping the horrible act that he has just committed." By the end of his sentence Envy was all giggles.

He places the knife on Hughes's throat "Any last words?"

Hughes stared up at him "Yes. You'd better hope that someone else kills you before Roy can find you because once he does he is going to burn every last bit of you till all that's left is ash." Hughes gave Envy the fieriest look he could muster, as though he were daring him now to go through with it. Envy snarled at him before slashing him clean through.

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><p><em>The Next Day… <em>

Riza hung up the phone and stared blankly at the men around her.

"Are you alright? Lieutenant Hawkeye?" asked Havoc, trying to get her to respond but not so much as her facial expression changed. She got up from her desk and opened the door to the Colonel's office. As soon as she entered Mustang sprang forth into action, pulling out the paperwork he was supposed to be doing and mumbling "I am doing my damn work, see?"

She bit her lower lip, trying to piece her thoughts together. Roy just kept going at it thinking that she was mad at him for sitting around in such a lazy state.

"Will you stop with the damn paperwork!" She caught onto how loud her voice was but it was too late. She breathed in deeply. She had dealt with death before; the deaths of her parents and comrades a like but this…

Roy looked at her face and he could trace the fear traveling down into her very core. He in turn also became very frightened but he would not allow it to show on his face. "What's happened?"

She did not say a word.

"What happened, Lieutenant?"

She breathed in heavily as she announced "Lt. Colonel Hughes is dead, sir."

His hands began to quiver with anger and his mouth hung limply "He's…what?"

"That's not all, sir. It seems that the entire Hughes' family was murdered."

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><p>Roy Mustang had to see this for himself. Naturally Riza went with him, though it was clear to see that she would have preferred to have been anywhere else. He had told her to stay behind if she felt that she could not handle it but she was as stubborn as ever and she refused to leave his side.<p>

As they traveled up the stairs of the apartment building in which the Hughes' family had once called home, they saw a very skittish officer bolt down the hall. His hands were clasped around his mouth; he was ready to blow chunks in any minute. They continued on up anyways. When Roy entered the apartment of his recently deceased friend, he found it crawling with officers, some who were suppose to be there and others just coming to gawk.

A tall officer with no truly distinguishable features, other then a small scar on his right hand and his title of Brigadier General approached Mustang as soon as he spotted him.

"Colonel Mustang, I'm Brigadier General Richter."

They shake hands and Mustang introduces him to Riza. It honestly sounded like any other day at the office, which just made things all the more twisted.

"I assume that you are here to see the bodies?"

Mustang gives him a quick nod; he can smell the stench of a rotting corpse, a smell he is all too familiar with.

"What happened here?"

Richter seems surprised that he does not already know but he continues on as though he were expecting this "The best we can guess is that the Lieutenant Colonel snapped a murdered his entire family."

"No, that's not possible!" Roy snapped at him, despite being aware of his rank.

"It's not the first time that we've witnessed a case like this. Many men suffered such emotional damage after Ishval and they were never quite the same. If you don't trust me that's fine but you must trust the facts, we found his finger prints all over the weapon that was used."

Roy apologized but not because he was sorry.

Richter continued onwards with what felt more like a tour then a crime scene. He brought them behind the living room couch; a blanket was sprawled out on the floor to conceal the woman underneath.

"We found Mrs. Hughes here, it appears to have been a blitz attack; poor thing didn't even see it coming. " He flipped a piece the blanket over reveling Gracia's face, eyes wide, frozen in terror.

"Now the next body we found….well…your Lieutenant may not want to see this." He spoke cautiously as he looked over at Riza. "I have grandchildren her age and I certainly can not go in."

Roy looked over at Riza who only offered him a simple glance, she was going in no matter what and he knew it. As they walked in Richter warned them both that there would be no blanket covering her as no one had the heart to cover her up.

Inside the room they found Elicia lying in her bed, her neck slashed in the same fashion as her mother's. Her eyes were, thankful closed and if one could ignore the slight of blood it almost appeared that she was really just sleeping. Still to Roy everything here looked too perfectly laid out, like the set of a movie.

They left the room, Riza still not saying a word. They came to the final spot Richter announced "This is it; this is where we found the bastard."

"Sir, that 'bastard' was my best friend, so if you wouldn't mind I'd like a moment alone with him."

Richter nodded and allowed him in. This time even Riza was blocked from entering. Mustang stood over the body of his friend. He removed the blanket from his face and he studied him in silence. There were frozen specks of liquid in his reddened eyes. He had been crying.

He remembered back when they were in Ishval, how Hughes had said that when he returned home he would hold Gracia with unbloodied hands. Then he thought back to the night prior

"_Believe me when I say that the events to follow will show just who is really on our side."_

Roy could hear mean standing down the hall whispering amongst themselves "How could he do this?" He heard one say to which the other replied "Well he was in Ishval not to mention he was the one who was put in charge of the case where that little girl got turned into a chimera, sometimes stresses of the job just eat away at ya."

Roy knew that Maes had not done this. He marched out of the room and called to his Lieutenant, who followed him swiftly behind. They walked out of the apartment building and stood in silence with there backs pressed firmly against the brick of the building. They remained so for what felt like an eternity.

Then Roy finally broke the silence, "I'm going after military command and I'm going to clear Hughes' name. Will you help me?"

"You know there is no need to ask."


End file.
